Sunset Sons

Sunset Sons
Background information
Origin	Hossegor, France
Genres	indie rock
Years active	2013 (2013)–present (present)
Labels	Polydor, LAB Records, Vagrant Records, Kobalt Music, French Exit
Associated acts	Imagine Dragons
Website	www.sunsetsons.com
Members	Rory Williams Jed Laidlaw Pete Harper
Past members	Robin Windram

Sunset Sons are a three-piece British-Australian indie band, based out of the town of Hossegor, in the Landes region of the South West of France, known as 'The European Surfing Capital'.

The band have released four EPs and their debut album Very Rarely Say Die was released on 1 April 2016. They have toured throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe and the west coast of the US.

In January 2018 the band announced they had been working on new material with producer Catherine Marks (Foals, Wolf Alice, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes) and will be releasing a new EP 'The River' sometime later in the year.

Formation

The seed of the band formed when drummer Jed Laidlaw was visiting a bar called Le Surfing, based at Estagnot beach near Hossegor, to visit a friend he had met whilst teaching surfing in the Canary Islands.

That night, singer Rory Williams was performing in the bar, where he also worked washing dishes. Rory had moved there a year earlier on his way to Biarritz to surf.

They hit it off and decided to start a band to make some money over the winter season, alongside friends Robin Windram (guitar) and Pete Harper (Bass).

They originally formed a covers band called The Cheerleaders, relocating to the French Alps for the winter to perform for the young snowboard crowd in the three valleys, basing themselves predominantly in the towns of Tignes and Val d’Isere.

After performing sometimes up to three shows a day in the various bars of the ski resorts, and becoming known for their raucous shows and unusual choices of songs, ranging from Queens of the Stone Age, to Kanye West, they decided to write their own material.

On relocating back to Hossegor for the summer they changed their name to Sunset Sons and spent every Friday in a local dance studio writing songs.

Jed sent some demos to former Sony Music executive Steve Milbourne who was Jed’s label manager when he drummed in a previous band. Steve was looking for a new management project at the time and flew to Hossegor to see them perform four songs in a tiny bar, and was impressed by the crowd reaction.

Steve helped them record their debut demo EP in a house they rented in Hossegor over the winter, with producer James Lewis. They named it Le Surfing EP after the bar where they met.^[1]

Le Surfing was self-released on February 20, 2014, and climbed to #6 in the iTunes Rock Chart. This caught the attention of record companies and publishers.

Steve was keen that the band be seen in their natural habitat, so arranged a tour of the French Alps, and a subsequent tour of surf towns in the UK, refusing to play any major cities.^[2]

2014–present

In April 2014 their track She Wants gained the accolade of ‘Next Hype’ from Zane Lowe, and was added to BBC Radio 1’s ‘Introducing’ playlist.

In June 2014 they signed to Polydor Records,^[3] Vagrant Records^[4] and Kobalt Music.^[5]

Summer 2014 saw them play on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading & Leeds festival amongst others.^[6]

Their first official release ’No Bad Days EP’ (produced by James Lewis) was released on 28 October 2014 and went to #1 in the iTunes Rock Chart, and lead track Remember was added to BBC Radio 1’s ‘In New Music We Trust’ playlist.

In January 2015, the band were nominated for the BBC Sound of 2015,^[7] MTV Brand New 2015^[8] and were named #1 XFM’s Great X-Pectations for 2015.^[9]

At this time the band played a sold out show at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London. Gaining a four star live review in The Times newspaper.^[10] This was followed by a sold out UK tour in February/March.

Their second official release ’The Fall Line EP’ (produced by Catherine Marks) was released on March 9, 2015 and also went to #1 in the iTunes Rock Chart, and lead track Medicine was BBC Radio 1’s track of the day and added to the ’C-List’.

In March 2015 the band went to Nashville to begin recording their debut album with producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Of Monsters and Men).^[11]

The band performed another sold out UK tour in April 2015, including London Scala.

In summer 2015 the band performed at Glastonbury Festival (John Peel Stage) earning a side of stage visit from Michael Eavis.^[12] Amongst others they also performed at Isle of Wight Festival, T in The Park, Boardmasters, and Reading & Leeds, as well as major festivals across Europe including Hurricane, Southside, Arenal Festival.

Their third EP release ’She Wants EP’ (produced by Catherine Marks and Jacquire King) was released on 23 July 2015. The lead track being a re-recording of ‘She Wants’ from their original demo EP. The track was named Radio 1’s ‘Track of the Day’.

On 9 August 2015, the band said they were re-working their debut album admitting that they got some of the tracks back from their time in Nashville and they could have been better, and that they would re-record certain things with an aim to finish it by end of summer 2015. ^[13]

In October 2015 the band joined Imagine Dragons as the main support for their European arena tour, covering 35 dates through Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Switzerland. The band said it was a 'massive compliment' to be asked.^[14]

On October 8, 2015, the band headlined the music segment of the World Surf League event Quiksilver Pro France, their tracks 'Blondie' and 'Come Easy' were used as the highlight background music for the event.

They released a single ‘On The Road’ (produced by Jacquire King, a re-recording of the original demo) on 16 October 2015 through the French Exit label, to support the Imagine Dragons tour.

In January 2016 the band announced their debut album 'Very Rarely Say Die' to be released on April 1, 2016.

On April 18, 2016 the band headlined surf and music festival Goldcoast Oceanfest in Croyde, Devon ^[15]

In August 2016 it was announced the band had been nominated for Best Live Act at the 2016 AIM (Association of Independent Music) Awards, alongside Wolf Alice, Babymetal, Caravan Palace and Courteeners.^[16]

In January 2018 it was announced guitarist Robin Windram had left the band to concentrate on his family. At the same time the band announced they had been in the studio with producer Catherine Marks and that a new EP 'The River' would be released in 2018 along with new live shows.

Their songs Remember and Medicine are included in the video game Guitar Hero Live.^[17] The band appeared on a BBC Radio 1 show on October 27, 2015 to talk about music video games.^[18]

Members

• Rory Williams (Lead Vocals, Keys)
• Jed Laidlaw (Drums)
• Pete Harper (Bass)

Past members

• Robin Windram (Guitar, Backing Vocals)

Discography

References

External links

• Official website